Comments on: Will new browsers really upgrade the Web?

The latest browsers sport many hot new features. But the avant-garde must reckon with inconsistent standards, lagging IE, and slow adoption.

[philosfool]

I'll be really happy when someone invents a browser with a mute button so I can silence ads. I'd switch back to IE if it had a mute feature (preferably with an independent control for each tab and a setting to determine whether, by default, new tabs open with sound on or off. If you want to get really cool, allow me to specify certain domains as exceptions, i.e., new tabs open silent by default but not YouTube, pandora, etc.

[kelmon]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure that I've heard of that being implemented on one of the major browsers but I forget which one and when it is due.

[TechGuy_G]

How can someone trust MS ?? Look at this http://www.microsoft.com/australia/ie8/competition/ with this kind of open behavior in public, can we trust MS for promoting healthy IT/ internet to the world???

Screw MS and IE.

[Shankland]

I think a $10,000 contest is fair game. Google pays developers cash to write Android apps and to find Native Client bugs, and I can't tell you how often I see cash incentives from companies trying to build developer bases (with user bases to follow) around this or that. It's a promotional stunt, not some devious scheme.

I've had my issues with Microsoft (how come my computer gets so bogged down when I install 12 apps?), but this action seems pretty straightforward to me.

[Aaron Kempf]

IE is the most powerful browser in the world.. I don't know how you can possibly say that it is lagging.

It is the most popular browser in the world-- any web designer that doesn't like it-- should stop trying to change the world and start dealing with it.

I personally hate Firefox and Chrome ten times more than you 'poor college students' dislike IE.

Does Chrome or Firefox currently support rich client-side applications?
IE has, and they have for about 15 years now (ActiveX and now Smart Clients .NET forms)

[forever4now]

Run the acid3 test on IE and then compare the results to Firefox, Chrome & Opera. IE is dead last.

The acid3 test can be found here:
http://acid3.acidtests.org/

To be fair, IE8 has improved its standards support, but it still has a long way to go, to catch the other browsers.

[forever4now]

I forgot Safari on the list of other browsers to compare IE acid3 results.

I should have also mentioned mobile web browsers. Most of the modern smartphone OSes (iPhoneOS, Android, WebOS) provide browsers that are already implementing HTML5. Windows Mobile IE supports the equivalent to IE6 (the dark ages), which is one of the reasons why Opera is so popular on Windows Mobile devices.

Microsoft seems almost out of touch, with what is going on in web standards & technology these days.

[edgedesign]

IE may currently be the most USED browser, but it's certainly not the BEST. It's buggy and insecure plus offers very poor support for web standards - standards that developers rely on to create interesting and useful content/apps on the web. Good developers focus on the browsers that offer better support (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and others) then try to fix what's not working in IE with various known hacks and work-a-rounds. It should not be like this.

IE is likely the current king because it's the default browser on Windows. Microsoft used it's monopoly in the 90's to spread it's use which effectively killed or wounded some of the better competing browsers. IE has since lost market share as users become educated about it's flaws, but some people are too lazy or inept to switch.

After all Microsoft's talk about embracing web standards, IE 8 only scores 20 out of 100 on the Acid 3 test. Apple's Safari and Google Chrome scored 100, Opera scored an 85 and Firefox scored a 72.

[Aaron Kempf]

re: shows total ignorance on how to lock down a PC, and it's what Microsoft wants you to believe through their propaganda.

No dude-- you're ignorant.. for thinking that anything other than Vista or XP is secure.
99.999% of all botnets are from idgits like you running 2000, 98, Me, 95, etc

-Aaron

[kelmon]

I am prepared to agree that Vista seems pretty secure but if you are going to suggest that botnets do not contain a high degree of Windows XP systems then you are quite clearly nuts.

[scottthesculptor]

I still don't get why I would want to upgrade.
I don't even bother with Flash - I don't need animated advertisements.
The internet's a tool, not an entertainment.

I can read.
HTML 4.0 covers that and the necessary interactivity for buying stuff.
Anything else is eye candy and pretty much a waste of time and bandwidth.

[christian368102]

i run windows xp with IE8beta. is IE7 better?

[Shankland]

I prefer IE8 to IE7 considerably. I'd recommend upgrading to the final version of IE8, which has been out a couple months now. That's just me, though.

[christian368102]

IE8 is better

[JayWes]

Yes, progress is wonderful, with the upgrade to IE 8, one is now faced with the "Internet Explore stopped working" message (Microsoft's replacement for the blue screen of death). To fix this, since most sites are not IE-8 compatibility, one turns the compatibility view for all websites to IE-7. Then there are 8 methods in Microsoft IE-8 support sites which may or may not work. I still get the "Internet Explore stopped working" followed by the DEP (Data Encryption Protection) alert when I use a link from CNET to go to articles on IE-8, if I am dumb enough to think I can close IE-8 before I close Outlook.

So all the new features will be turned off, Just as most of the new features in Vista 64 are not used, because programmers wish to keep compatibility.

This is another stimulus plan, the programmers can keep busy rewriting web pages, and users can keep busy wading though the 8 fixes, and nobody will have time to write worms and viruses (Dream on!)

[kelmon]

With any luck, the advent of HTML 5 will see the death of Flash and Silverlight. The sooner we can deliver modern content without the use of plugins the better, particularly when those plugins are of dubious quality and not open.

[Shankland]

I think the onset of HTML 5 video will put a little pressure on Flash, but don't expect any dramatic changes any time soon. There's a lot that Flash handles out there. All those snazzy stock charts and a jillion games, for example.

[Siebrut]

I agree with Shankland.

And don't forget that 1. Flash is installed on 99% of the computers world wide. It would take many years until HTML 5 is on 99% of the computer.
2. They're open source versions of Flash Player that can play Flash Video (e.g. on YouTube), like Gnash and Swfdec.
3. It's available now. So you don't have to wait to implentate the same (kind of) techniques as in HTML 5.

[grog40a]

I have had good comments about Google"s Chrome. Not all upgrades are improvements, but it appears this is a good one! Allan

[dennisl59]

If the sites you're 'browsing' to don't have the bandwidth, who cares which 'browser' is used?

[edgedesign]

The largest hindrance to web innovation and progression is MICROSOFT. They refuse to implement web standards properly and developers waste many hours trying to get websites and webapps working smoothly in Internet Explorer. IE is slowly loosing market share because of this and the many security issues, but some people are too lazy or clueless about changing their default Windows browser.

After all their talk about embracing web standards, IE 8 only scores 20 out of 100 on the Acid 3 test. Apple's Safari and Google Chrome scored 100, Opera scored an 85 and Firefox scored a 72.

I seriously believe there is a conscious effort on Microsoft's part to slow progress on the web to protect their own interests. People using IE get the impression that web apps don't work or new web technologies are buggy when it's really IE that is the problem in many cases.

Browse Happy - Switch to Safari, Chrome, Firefox or Opera

[dayrona09]

What a great article, however there is a typo" Geolocation technology can, """"with the your permission""""", let a Web site know where you are to tailor location-specific content accordingly." It should be with your permission. Thanks